“That’s the way, Patriot. Let the OPECs keep their gasoline. We’ll just tap into a far more efficient energy source: man-power. If we all learn to pull our weight…”

http://www.commuterage.com/ Brian Morrissey

The Jefferson v Hamilton theme applied by Lazare is an eloquent way of explaining why this is becoming such a partisan issue. This has been a bipartisan issue in the past largely because A) most people with the means drove and B) capital resources for transit improvements were plentiful when needed, governments weren’t really feeling the pinch. Transit was seen as an entitlement for the poor, and for these reasons most other entitlements once enjoyed bipartisan support, as well.

I’m a believer we’ve reached global peak oil production (it’s indeed flat since 2008 – not including synthetics – and so have been annual VMT), which is in turn causing shortages of capital in the system, i.e.you can’t produce more goods/services without more energy, and you can’t sell what you’re not producing, which means you’re not making as much of a profit to pay off loans, which means the interest on those loans isn’t producing the added capital needed to issue more more loans to help grow production, etc.

Anyways, this reduction in capital is now catching up with us in so many ways, and everyone everywhere is feeling the pinch from their household budget to their operating budget, while those at the top of the foodchain are attempting to keep their real share of total assets, rather than the relative percentage as the whole pie shrinks. It’s the fundamental dynamic behind the Tea Party’s rise, and Occupy as well.

Everyone is trying to protect their selfish interests because they can longer afford to accommodate each other’s. This of course leads to those who have a lot of assets calling those of us calling for less waste, “elitists.” Further, business-friendly Republicans are being wooed by an industry feeling the pinch of less capital and people trimming their wasteful assets and the growth of more harmonious lifestyles and infrastructure.

In reality, if Jefferson were alive today he would be appalled at what car-culture has done to his agrarian utopia. I think he’d take the same stance on transportation special interests that he took on religion with the Danbury Baptists: A Wall of Separation.